Abstract [en]

Coolant supplied by high pressure into the cutting zone has shown the lower thermal loads on the tool when machining difficult-to-cut materials as the Alloy 718. In this study, we investigate how the combination of high-pressure cooling and tool-surface modifications can lead to further improvements regarding tool life. The general approach is to enhance the coolant-tool interaction by increasing the contact area. Therefore, we machined cooling features into flank and rake faces of commercially available cemented tungsten carbide inserts. In this way, the surface area was increased by similar to 12%. After the cutting tests, the tools were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy combined with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Compared with conventional tools, the tool modifications reduced the flank wear by 45% for the investigated cutting parameters. Furthermore, we were able to significantly increase the cutting speed and feed rate without failure of the tool. The investigated surface modifications have great potential to enhance the productivity of metal cutting processes.

Tamil Alagan, Nageswaran

Abstract [en]

Heat generated in a machining process is a common and critical obstacle faced in today's machining industries. The heat generated in the cutting zone has a direct negative influence on the tool life which, in turn contributes to increase the manufacturing costs. Especially, in machining of Heat Resistant Super Alloys, HRSA this is a very limiting factor. HRSA are capable of retaining their mechanical strength and hardness at elevated temperatures. This property is advantageous in the application in e.g. aero-engines but also a disadvantage, since it also lowers the machinability significantly. This work is an attempt to improve the heat transfer from the cutting zone, which would lead to an increase in the tool life. To achieve this goal, the cutting tool has been modified to create an improved interface between the coolant and tool in the high-temperature areas. Two generations of inserts have been designed and investigated. Firstly, an insert with surface texture features has been created with the purpose of increasing the available surface area for heat dissipation: First generation, Gen I. Secondly, a GenII was designed as a further improvement of Gen I. Here, several channel features on the rake face were added, reaching out from the contact zone to the near proximity of the cutting edge. This with the purpose of improving access of the coolant closer to the cutting edge. The experiments were conducted in facing operations of Alloy 718 with uncoated round carbide inserts. All experiments were carried out with high-pressure coolant assistance, with a pressure of 16 MPa on the rake face and 8 MPa on the flankface, respectively.The two generations of inserts, Gen I and Gen II, were experimentally evaluated by tool wear analysis in comparison with a regular insert. The results shows that the tool life increased significantly for the Gen I insert, compared to a catastrophic failure of the regular insert at the same conditions. Regarding the Gen II insert,an increase in tool life by approximately 30 to 40 percent compared to Gen I insert was observed.